[Snorlax94]

I think Stanford is quite immune to this desperate and kind-of-pathetic article, even if it was intended as satire.

First, as others have mentioned, Stanford is named after Leland Stanford Jr. As a father, I think it's so impressive and touching that Leland Jr's parents would name the university after their child who passed away at a young age. It is a reminder that the university was founded out of a tremendous act of loss and love, from a very noble motive.

Second, fortunately, Stanford doesn't engage in the strange and sad dead-person-tradition worship that I see at other places, including many southern and east coast institutions. We don't have as many statues and busts of former rich old patrons and alums of the university -- the main sculptures I can think of are Rodins. The only thing I can think of that pays tribute to the Stanfords is their mausoleum, which is the site of a great Halloween party. And if you ever saw the party that occurs at their mausoleum, you'd know how  worshipful the Stanford students are.

Third, I think the great thing about Stanford is that if new information came to light, the community by-and-large would have the guts, intelligence, and open-mindedness to re-evaluate *any* tradition -- even its name(!)  Fortunately for us, there's no merit in this instance. But I think it's incredibly liberating to think that the university would be willing to do so, if strong enough new information came to light, and I think it's one of the problems in America that I think so many other institutions would not be able to do so.

[Snorlax94]

I think Stanford is quite immune to this desperate and kind-of-pathetic article, even if it was intended as satire.

First, as others have mentioned, Stanford is named after Leland Stanford Jr. As a father, I think it's so impressive and touching that Leland Jr's parents would name the university after their child who passed away at a young age. It is a reminder that the university was founded out of a tremendous act of loss and love, from a very noble motive.

Second, fortunately, Stanford doesn't engage in the strange and sad dead-person-tradition worship that I see at other places, including many southern and east coast institutions. We don't have as many statues and busts of former rich old patrons and alums of the university -- the main sculptures I can think of are Rodins. The only thing I can think of that pays tribute to the Stanfords is their mausoleum, which is the site of a great Halloween party. And if you ever saw the party that occurs at their mausoleum, you'd know how  worshipful the Stanford students are.

Third, I think the great thing about Stanford is that if new information came to light, the community by-and-large would have the guts, intelligence, and open-mindedness to re-evaluate *any* tradition -- even its name(!)  Fortunately for us, there's no merit in this instance. But I think it's incredibly liberating to think that the university would be willing to do so, if strong enough new information came to light, and I think it's one of the problems in America that I think so many other institutions would not be able to do so.